


Of Loftwings and Heroes

by PanWithPlans



Series: Tales across Hyrule [1]
Category: Linked Universe-Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Adventure, Angst, Bonding, Character Death, Depression, Fluff, Gen, Hurt, It Gets Worse Before It Gets Better, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), Mild Blood, Misunderstandings, Sky has a bad time, Sky's kinda depressed, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-06
Updated: 2019-12-24
Packaged: 2020-06-22 13:37:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 4,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19669576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PanWithPlans/pseuds/PanWithPlans
Summary: Sky has tried to become friends with them, but they just don't like him. Its time he tries to change.





	1. Loneliness

As soon as Sky met the others, he felt out of place. 

He wanted to become friends with them, but they were indifferent to his happy up in the clouds attitude. He couldn’t help it; he was raised above the clouds where his only worries were the knight academy. 

He had nothing to bond with them over either. His one measly adventure was nothing compared to all of Legend’s, or even Wild’s single, but long, adventure. 

His Hyrule wasn’t destroyed Like Hyrule and Legend’s, and he didn’t lose a beloved companion like Twilight. 

He did lose Fi, but she was a sword, not a real being. And he can't talk about her around them much anyway. Time holds a deep hatred for the master sword, and Warriors somehow knew her, and doesn’t like to think about her. 

Sky doesn’t blame it on them though. He knows this is a difficult situation to be in and that everyone is trying to get used to it. 

But it is lonely seeing the others bond over common enemies and situations. He tried to join in a conversation, but when asked about Ganon any chance of friendship faded. 

He had to tell them about Demise, and how he was the cause of the never-ending curse. Only Four and Wind talked to him properly for a week after that. And that was when he gave up. 

Sky was lonely, he missed Zelda and his loftwing, and e missed Skyloft. But he knew they would never end up there. They had been to every Hyrule except his at least once. With Time and Wild’s being the most frequent followed by Legend’s. 

He wonders if it would be considered selfish to ask the goddess to allow him to see his friends once more. If it would be selfish to be allowed to return home where he has friends who like being around him. He supposes it would be but asks all the same. 

Of course, nothing happens, and even though he knew this, Sky’s heart broke a little more as the goddess left him to be alone once more. Left him to feel something he hadn't felt since his quest to save Zelda. 

Sky was lonely, and he didn’t know how long he could cope. 


	2. Hurt

Sky knew that Legend didn’t like him about a week after they had all met. 

_They had set up camp and had all sat around the fire. Everyone was waiting for Wild to finish cooking and Sky was telling Wind about S_ _kyloft_ _._

_“Did many people fall off the island?”_

_“Quite a few. That’s why there are the knights to catch people, and once you’ve found your_ _loftwing_ _hey can catch you!”_

_Sky talked about his home often back then. Nobody had stopped him, but he hadn’t seen the looks or heard the sighs as he talked about Skyloft_ _again._

_“The thin air up there must have been what made you so loopy.”_

_Sky was confused when Legend said that. He had honestly thought they didn’t mind. But when Sky voiced his question, he just got a laugh._

_“You’re always completely out of it. You’re so into your own little world that it took you this long to notice that none of us want to listen to you talk about the same things for the twentieth time.”_

_Time looked like he wanted to say something, but Sky shook his head. He stood up_ _and picked_ _up the master sword lying next to him._

_I'm going for a walk. I’ll be back before sunset.”_

_Nobody stopped him._

_Once he got far away enough from camp, he collapsed against a tree and closed his eyes. He genuinely thought that he and Legend were becoming friends._

_But hey, maybe he was right, and that Sky was just annoying and useless._

After that day he tried to forget about I, and it seemed like everyone else had as well. 

And so what if he talked about his home less. None of them cared anyway. 


	3. Distrust

Sky knew that the Links weren’t mean people, and that it was just the situation. Sometimes they could be nice, with nobody snapping at each other and one or  two of them even talking to him. 

He liked those days.

The bad days usually happened after a fight or after something that brought up bad memories for one of them.

There was a fight against some  moblins where Wind got hurt, and Sky being the least injured went to help him. Wind had declined help, and Sky just tried to insist that he could help. Wind had shouted at him.

“I’m not a kid Sky! I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”

“Wind. You are a teenager, not an adult. And I’m not saying you aren’t  capable, I know you are.”

“Then leave me be.”

“Wind, your side is bleeding heavily, and we need to make sure it isn’t poisoned.”

“Sky, last time you said that one of our wounds wasn’t poisoned it was. I’d hardly trust you to check for that.”

Warriors had said the last one, and Wind’s mouth moved as if saying something, but Sky’s mind was stuck on what Warriors had told him.

_ They don’t trust you. _

_ Why would they? _

_ All you do is hurt people. _

_ You let Twilight get poisoned. _

_ You made Wind feel like a kid, _

_ You annoyed Legend. _

_ You’re useless. _

Goddess he was truly a failure. Why couldn’t he just stay in the shadows, stop acting like he knew everything. He clearly didn’t if Twilight was any indication. He should’ve just backed off when Wind said he didn’t need help.

But he didn’t.

And now his mind won’t be quiet.

_ Useless _

_ Annoying _

Sky heard rustling and saw Four, he must have spaced out.

When asked if he was alright, Sky just smiled and brushed  off the concern.

They didn’t need to know, they wouldn’t care.

After all he’s just a boy from a forgotten island in the sky.


	4. Broken

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im back :) Sorry it took so long for this chapter to be added but I havent been able to find the motivation.  
> Thanks for the comments though, and I hope y'all enjoy.

Skyloft was just as beautiful as Sky remembered. With the waterfall that came from nowhere, and the  colourful houses if felt like home.

Though in this case, it was home for him, unlike other villages in other Hyrules.

He wandered along the paths, looking for any familiar person, and a grin appeared on his face when a flash of blonde appeared in the corner of his eye.

“Zelda!”

The figure turns, and his smile falls at the look in her eyes.

Confusion. 

She doesn’t know who he is,

Zelda, his Zelda, his best friend does not know him.

“Zelda?” he asks once  more, in hope of recognition.

She turns and walks  away , and with each step his soul shatters.

She remembered him after sealing herself away for thousands of years, but not after a few months.

All Sky can do is curse to the very sky he grew up under.

Curse the goddesses who did this to him, curse the Links for hating him and curse Zelda for forgetting him.

What did he do to deserve this, he tried to be a good person and he tried to be who  Hylia wanted him to be years before when she set his life in  stone?

All Sky wanted was to be happy with Zelda.

All he wanted was to have a friend amongst the heroes, but he failed as a hero himself. 

He doesn’t deserve to stay amongst them.

He failed to destroy  Demise and this is his punishment.

To be alone.

Sky hates it, but he knows he should have been punished harsher, he should be thankful to be let off this easy.

But it doesn’t stop the hurt.

Sky wakes up with a smile on his face and a broken soul.


	5. Selfish

The thing was, Sky didn't notice the concern from the others. 

He didn’t notice the concerned looks from the others when sat at camp. 

He heard them whispering about him, but he just ignored it. 

They didn’t want to talk to him, he didn’t deserve it.

He saw Wind talking excitedly to Warriors, but when he went to join the conversation, they looked at him with something unrecognizable and stopped talking. He knew he wasn’t welcome and walked away. 

He could go sit with someone, he supposes that Four and Hyrule don’t despise him, but he can't force them deal with Legends hostility against him. And he wouldn’t even consider sitting with Time, not after he nearly killed Twilight. He couldn’t deal with the look of disappointment. 

So he sits alone, with only Fi for company, and he ignores all the whispers around him. 

He doesn’t deserve to be with them, he wants to go back home. 

And when he gets put on watch one night, well, he knows he must leave, after all, animosity amongst a group can cause nothing but damage to the team 

He can't have that on his conscience as well as everything else. 

“Where are you going?” 

Of course Time would wake up. 

“The river, I need more water.” 

Time grunts in response and rolls back over. Thank Hylia. 

He does stop at the river, but then he continues. 

They won't realise he isn't there until morning, and they won't miss him. 

They won't miss the way he fails at everything he does, and how he is so selfish he can't even think about the others before making a wish for himself. 

Even leaving now is selfish, he supposes. 

So, as the sun rises, Sky walks down an unknown path. 

This decision may be selfish, but he doesn’t really care. 

They won't miss him. Nobody will. 


	6. Falling

Sky does hope they notice him gone though, selfish as that may be.

He wants them to look for him, to find him and tell them that they do like him, that he isn ' t a  fa il ure of a hero. He wants them to tell them he is their friend.

But he knows that  won't happen, he made them hate him.

He just wants to go home, but he doesn’t know how to leave this world just like he didn’t know how he got there.

But what if  Skyloft was still up there? What if he could still find a way to see his old home.

But, that’s impossible and Sky knows it. He can ' t go back home, his  loftwing wouldn’t be there, or anybody else. The people all went down to the su rface with him and Zelda to start a new, more flourishing life for themselves.

It should be there though. It  has to be. He just wants to go home, where he  actually belongs .

Goddess he forgot what that felt like.

And as Sky sits alone at the base of a tree, clutching  ~~ Zelda's ~~ his sailcloth to his chest, he thinks about the past.

He grew up on Skyloft, and sure he never knew his parents, but the people were kind to him.

Groose may have been a bully, but he became a good friend to him.

Even on his journey, he wasn’t alone. He had Fi. He still had his friends in Skyloft. He still had people he could cry to, people he could feel normal with.

Now  he's afraid to breathe too loudly.

But as Sky sits under the tree, time passes. Not Time the person, but time the construct.

And Sky looks to, well, the sky, hoping to find Skyloft.

But he  can't see it behind the clouds, and he sighs.

Mere minutes pass before Sky finds himself stripped of his armour and climbing the large tree to see above the clouds.

And only a few seconds pass after that before he finds himself on the floor, arrow through his side and the world going black.


	7. Abandoned

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: Swearing and some depressing thoughts from Sky.

Sky doesn’t know where he is. He can only see black, but he swears he can hear a stream running behind him.

But he doesn’t know where he is, and he can’t remember how he got there.

_“Sky?! Wind, get Hyrule!”_

He hears the voices, but he doesn’t know who they are. Do they want to hurt him? He needs Zelda.

_“Hyrule passed out!”_

Where is Zelda? They promised that they would never abandon eachother.

_“Shit! Get someone else then!”_

She said their souls were connected, that they would stay together through anything.

_“Is he alright? Is the wound bleeding again?”_

She left him.

_“No! Hes been awake for the past 5 minutes and you’ve been off gallavanting in the forest!”_

He reaches out for Fi, she said she would follow him. She’ll be here. She has to be.

_“Sky, can you open your eyes for me?”_

Nothing.

_“Sky?”_

She’s gone.

_“Are you sure he’s awake? He seems pretty passed out to me.”_

They’ve all gone.

_“Of course I’m sure, I’m not an idiot!”_

Why is he still here if they’ve all left him?

_“See! He’s twitching.”_

There is no home left for him.

_“Sky, we need you to wake up now. You need to drink something, its been a day and we cant let you become dehydrated.”_

What did he do to push his friends away? He thought they liked him.

_“Time, somethings up. Look!”_

He doesn’t want to stay in a world where everyone despises him.

_“Twilight, I need something to put something under his head.”_

He wants his sailcloth.

_“Have my pelt, it’s the best I've got.”_

It’s all he has left.

_“His arm is moving!”_

He needs his sailcloth. It smells like Zelda, like home. It holds the memories of a life now lost. He needs it.

_“Give him his sailcloth, I think he’s reaching for it.”_

He feels his fingers grasp the familiar material, and clutches onto it like a lifeline. It IS a lifeline. And then, he feels something else.

_“Wild, what are you doing?”_

A hand grasps his own, unfamiliar but at the same time it feels like his own.

He hears faint words, but cant make anything of them. Is it Zelda?

It cant be.

She left him.

Everybody left him.

The world goes black once more.


	8. Hate

It was Twilight who found Sky lying by a tree, body bloody and broken. 

He only found him because he could smell the blood. 

What if he hadn't smelt it? 

What if he hadn't gone to find the source of the bloody scent. 

It would be his fault that Sky would have died.

Its his fault that Sky was in this condition, lying on his bedroll potentially never to wake up. 

Lying there in a critical condition with nothing he can do to help. 

Its his fault and he hates himself for it. 

Hyrule had healed Sky when he was brought back to camp, and he feels like scum for not noticing he had gone. 

He had taken one look at Sky before rushing over, giving the others things to do before he could heal him. Making them wash off blood, reset his shoulder, bandage his ribs, anything to make Sky heal quicker. 

Before he heals, Legend takes him aside, and Hyrule almost expects him to give the ‘Stop healing before you pass out’ speech. Instead he is told that Legend had just been making extra magic restoring potions and will be there to help. 

Hyrule was surprised, but he couldn’t show it, not when Sky was lying there on deaths door. 

Hyrule couldn’t let him die. 

Hyrule wouldn’t let him die. 

He didn’t pass out once his magic was depleted, so he checked Sky over again, and set himself by his bed to watch him for any changes. 

He cant stop thinking about he should've seen that something was up with Sky. 

Its his fault and he hates himself for it. 

Legend sat to the side when Sky was brought back to camp by Twilight, when the others were helping him, when he was lying on his bedroll passed out. He sat there. 

He couldn’t do anything. 

He didn’t deserve to do anything, not after what he said to Sky. 

He made fun of his home, of his life without knowing much about it. 

He was a prick, but was too stubborn to admit it. 

That mistake nearly cost Sky his life. 

But Goddess he was a fool not to realise that Sky was hurting, to realise that Sky was breaking. 

And he was breaking and Legend wouldn’t be a fool and deny it. He cant be like that anymore. 

He was a fool and now Sky may as well be dead. 

Its his fault and he hates himself for it. 

Wind had tried to help when Sky had been brought back to camp, but his tears prevented him from being helpful, and he had been sat on a log with Wild instead. 

He just cant believe he said the things he had to Sky. 

He knows he didn’t mean to get Twilight poisoned, and he knows that Sky didn't deliberately treat him like a child. 

He was just annoyed and unfortunately Sky was the one he took it out on. 

Sky who was already suffering from previous hurts from the group. 

He was selfish and made Sky hurt, and when he could've helped, he cried like a child. 

Though, he supposes, he is a child really. 

He was childish and selfish and now Sky is struggling to stay alive. 

Its his fault and he hates himself for it. 

Time was at Sky’s side immediately once he was brought back to camp. 

He was doing whatever Hyrule told him to do, trying to keep the boy in front of him alive. 

He comforts the Wind, helps Warriors clean Sky’s weapons, and even tries to help Wild sort out food. 

Anything to take his mind off of what had happened. 

Anything to help him get over the never ending thoughts that he should've tried better. 

Should've tried harder to prevent any animosity between the group. 

Should've known that Sky wasn’t alright when he had left. 

But he didn’t. 

And he only comes out of his head because suddenly Four is in front of him and asking a question. 

Its about whether he had known Sky had left. 

He had. 

Its because of him that Sky had left, and its because of him that Sky was shot and nearly killed. 

Its his fault and he hates himself for it. 


	9. Waiting

It had been 3 days and Sky’s condition had barely improved and none of the Links knew why. 

It was 3 days of them worrying for Sky. 

3 days of them all sitting there mentally berating themselves for what they did to Sky. 

He still hadnt woken up. 

Wild had suggested that they use a fairy on him, and Time had wearily sent him and Four to find one. 

The others did try to be useful, but there was only so much to be done. 

If Sky didn’t want to wake up then he wouldn’t, Time had said to them after he had passed out the second time. 

That had led to an argument between Warriors and Legend, both blaming the other for what had happened to Sky. And they had only stopped because Hyrule had woken from a restoration sleep. 

Tensions had been high, and all they could do was wait until Sky woke up. 

Or died, though everyone truly hoped it didn’t come to that. 


	10. Spirit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: depression, minor suicidal thoughts though nothing major

Sky didn’t want to wake up. 

He didn’t want to wake up and be alone. 

But as he knows by now, the goddesses wont let him have anything he wants. 

It was dark, but he could see his body lying on a bedroll, Hyrule and Wind sat next to him. 

It was disconcerting, to say the least. 

Was he dead? Sky doubts it. 

Was his spirit ripped from his body? Definitely. 

It was almost like he was halfway to the spirit realm. 

Almost like he was halfway to death. 

Sky knows he should be thinking about how he could re-connect with his body, he knows he should be. 

He didn’t want to die. 

He didn’t. 

… 

… 

… 

He just wanted a friend. 

It’s not his fault that he was raised in completely different circumstances. 

Four, for example, enjoys talking about his craft due to being a skilled smith. 

And Wind talks frequently about the ocean and sailing, because that’s how he grew up. 

So why did everyone complain when he talked about Skyloft? 

He wanted to talk about the Knights academy and the Wing Ceremony. About his Loftwing and the incredible feeling of soaring through the air. 

But the others thought he was crazy. 

He grew up without the worry of war, and without the fear of each breath being his last. 

He got to have a childhood before he had to save Zelda. 

He knew how to use a sword and had a good basis on how to fight. 

His quest was easy. If he ever needed help, Fi would give him advice whether on the best way to kill an enemy or where to head next. 

He had no right to talk about how he found parts of his quest difficult when Warriors had to lead an army, when Time was forced to take up the title of hero at only ten years old, when Legend was forced time and time again to save Hyrule and other worlds when he didn’t want to. 

He had no right. 

And now he’s stuck in some sick version of the silent realm for some goddess forsaken reason, with no way to get back to his body and die. 

Because he has nothing left for him. 

He has no friends, no family and no home. 

He may have saved his own time but caused suffering for thousands of years to his own people. 

He is an annoyance and a nuisance and a failure with seemingly no way to correct his mistakes. 

Because that’s what he was. 

A mistake. 

Not meant to be here, and with no redeeming qualities. 

If he was one of his wood carvings, he would've thrown himself away long ago. To be forgotten and left to rot. 

Sky knows he doesn’t deserve whatever lesson Hylia was trying to teach him, and he doesn’t deserve a second chance. 

He knows that eventually the other Links will realise he isn't worth being kept alive and leave him to move on before the lizalfos find them. 

They will move on eventually, it's what they do. 

Well, except for him, but it doesn’t matter. 

He never did. 

His parents knew that. His friends knew that. His counterparts knew that. 

Sky’s worth nothing compared to them. 

And now he's paying the price for thinking otherwise. 


	11. Fade

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw: some self-hatred, major character death.

Sky notices that Warriors and Legend argue a lot now, more than before anyway. And he selfishly notes that its usually about him. 

There was a big argument not long after he woke in the spirit realm, about who held the blame. 

It was a pointless argument; it was his fault after all. It was him who was so unlikeable that he drove himself out of the group and into this never-ending loneliness. 

But the two hadnt spoken kindly to eachother after that. 

It was because Warriors had mentioned someone called Marin, had said that she had never loved him. Legend had punched him in the jaw. 

Tensions were high amongst them, and Sky had a front row seat to all of it. 

Four was constantly muttering under his breath to seemingly nobody, clutching onto his sword like someone would steal it at any moment. 

Wild wouldn’t talk to anyone, and went missing for hours at a time, returning with more bruises than he had left with. 

Warriors and Wind were attached, the older telling stories to try keep Wind from crying again, something he did often. 

Sky knew they all blamed themselves for what happened to him, but he couldn’t do anything to help. He was as useless as always, and all he could do was watch and sleep. 

He hated sleeping as he would dream of Skyloft. 

He would dream of the rush of falling off the island into the air, of being caught by his loftwing and soaring through the air with Zelda. 

He would dream of being happy. 

Though he supposes it was all false. She had to like him because on such a small island, if you had no friends then you would die alone. 

She was so kind that she wouldn’t let that happen to anyone. She didn’t really like him. Who would? 

He was annoying. 

Useless. 

Faliure. 

… 

… 

… 

_“L_ _ast time you said that one of our wounds wasn’t poisoned it was. I’d hardly trust you to check for that._ _”_

_“You’re always completely out of it. You’re so into your own little world that it took you this long to notice that none of us want to listen to you talk about the same things for the twentieth time.”_

_“Did we ask you to interrupt us?”_

_“Stop talking like the swords an actual person! It’s a fucking sword!”_

… 

… 

… 

“Stop!” 

It was too bright and too loud. 

“I-I-I...” 

The silence is deafening, and their gazes burn into his soul. 

“I’m sorry.” 

And he is gone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> im sorry.


	12. Mourn

Time had spent the past week watching the group slowly fall apart. It had gotten worse after Sky died.

They needed time to mourn their friend, but he knew they had to move on. Twilight had noted that the scent of monsters had become sharper the day before, and if they lingered then they would enter a fight that may cause more of them to be lost.

They were protests from everyone, they didn’t want to leave Sky behind but they had to understand that they had to go.

They made him a grave. They decorated it with purple flowers, ones that Sky had said looked similar to an ancient flower that he had said he knew, and lay the carving of his  loftwing amongst them. It was the only one they could find after Sky had disappeared.

They were gone before the sun rose.


	13. Phoenix

The light was bright, it was warm, and the wind was light. But there was a gentle shower of rain that made everything feel fresh, like the world was being made anew.

A body lays on the grass, surrounded by flowers and guarded by a crimson bird. It almost seems to be dead, but every now and then its right arm spasms, almost like its being struck by lightning.

Then  there's a gasp, and another, then the body shoots up, like its preparing for a fight. But the bird calms  ~~ it ~~ them, and they take a moment to look around at the beautiful area.

They walk around, taking a moment to smell a flower and feel the rain. 

Then they pick up a small piece of wood, rotting from the rain and dirt. And the quiet atmosphere is broken by a piercing scream.

They seem to remember something. It may have hurt, but the memory wasn’t painful. After years of being gone, they have a purpose.

The bird is a loftwing, and he is a hero.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to say thank you to everyone who has read this. I appreciate all the comments, and thank everyone who has been following this. :)


End file.
